What If?
by Miracle of Miracles
Summary: A Fiddler fanfic. A nine-year-old Tzeitel tries to explain to Motel about why the matchmaking rules shouldn't register with their generation. My first FOTR fanfic.


**What if?**

Tzeitel and Motel were probably destined to begin with. In their childhood days they would play in the pastures and among the cows and horses in the barn under Tevye's watchful eye, playing games of pretend and battle victory. But one day a halfway intelligent conversation ensued…

The two youths had been chasing each other around the barn until Motel had suddenly changed his direction just as Tzeitel came bounding around the corner. He caught her around the waist and tackled her to the dusty ground, and the two nine-year-olds erupted into gales of laughter.

"Motel, you silly pig!" Tzeitel squealed as she pushed him away playfully. "What was that for?"

"How else would I have caught you?" Motel replied, grinning from ear to ear. He fell back onto the ground with a sigh, resting his head on top of his arms. "Let's play a different game," he suggested. "I'm too tired to run for much longer."

Tzeitel rolled her eyes. "You're always too tired to do anything," she scoffed. Then she sighed; as long as they were both winded she might as well start a conversation she had wanted to bring up for a while. "Motel, have you ever wondered why your parents got married?"

"Their parents made them, of course," Motel answered impatiently. "What's your point?"

"I don't know," Tzeitel muttered. "Whenever I ask Mama and Papa why they got married, Papa says it's because they love each other."

"And then what?"

"Then Mama scoffs at him and conks him upside the head with a rolling pin," Tzeitel answered. "But I've always wondered…does anyone ever marry because they love someone?"

"You girls and your fantasies…" Motel rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"No, seriously Motel!" Tzeitel retorted. "I think that it would be positively lovely if we had a choice. What if Yenta chose a total hag for your match and you'd rather die than live in the same house with her for your entire life?"

"Please don't ask me questions." Motel rolled onto his side so as not to have to face Tzeitel.

Tzeitel angrily slapped him on the shoulder. "Pay attention to me. Now, Hodel is in love with the rabbi's son, but out of all of the men in Anatevka there's not much of a chance that Yenta would choose him for her, is there? I mean, the rabbi only has one son. So chances are Hodel would get set up with some man that she's never met in her life or was never attracted to in any way…like perhaps that ugly butcher Lazar Wolf."

Motel made a disgusted face. "That's disgusting!"

"So you see my point!" said Tzeitel eagerly. "If Hodel and the rabbi's son had a choice, then they could probably be married and at least Hodel would be happy."

"No!" Motel snapped. "No points! My mom says that the matchmaker has always and always will decide the matches…"

"That's another thing!" Tzeitel interrupted. "Everyone calls them 'matches', which isn't the least bit romantic. That's because no one loves each other! Think about it…all of the children and their parents and their parents have probably been born from two people that hated each other, then they married someone they hated, and then _we'll _marry someone we—"

"You don't know that," Motel cut in crossly.

"It's possible though," Tzeitel insisted. "Our entire village is probably built of a bunch of people who hate each other, and then the entire thing will fall apart because our little 'matches' break up and no one helps each other and the children will all starve and…"

"You girls and your _other_ fantasies!" Motel cried out. He stood up and glared down at Tzeitel. "I'm tired of this now. Why don't we do something that we _both _enjoy?"

"I'm not done talking yet," Tzeitel snapped.

"But I'm done listening!" Motel declared. Without warning he bent down and wrapped his arms around her waist, then began to drag Tzeitel along the ground with her shouting at him angrily in protest. Motel stopped when he noticed in horror that Tevye had noticed what was going on and was now coming after the two of them; Motel allowed Tzeitel to rise to her feet and the two of them sped away as fast as they could.

**XXXXX**

A/N: That was my first FOTR story. I got the idea for it and decided to write it down…and now I'm asking for your input. So, tell me what you think so that I know what I can improve on.

Wonder of Wonders, Miracle of Miracles


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